Opposition says criticism of voting system vindicated

Opposition parties said yesterday the successful hacking of e-voting machines in The Netherlands vindicated their objections to a similar system being introduced in the State.

Fine Gael's environment spokesman Fergus O'Dowd said it was clear that the Irish system, which was built with the same components as the Dutch one, could be easily corrupted. "As seen in Holland, the Government's e-voting system is open to tampering. In fact, as the Dutch group showed, it is quite simple to interfere with the working of our Government's e-voting machines.

"There is no public confidence in e-voting. The most fundamentally-important criteria an electoral system must meet is for an electorate to have full confidence in it. On this issue e-voting fails miserably."

The Labour Party called for a Dáil debate on the reports of the system's vulnerability. Its environment spokesman Eamon Gilmore said: "The Government consistently ignored the concerns we first raised when electronic voting was first mooted. Only when they were forced to bow to political and public pressure and commit to a review of the entire system were they able to concede that the system was flawed."

The Green Party urged Minister for the Environment Dick Roche to abandon any plans to introduce the machines. According to spokesman Ciarán Cuffe, their introduction was hastened by "an arrogant Minister who refused to take on board legitimate criticism".

"These amount to an indictment of a Government that dismissed any criticism of the chosen system. No voting system which lacks a voter-verified audit trail can be trusted."

Responding to the security breach reported in The Netherlands, Mr Roche said a Cabinet committee had been established to consider the issue. "In their summary conclusion the commission [on e-voting] make a recommendation for improved physical and operational security measures that do not require modification of the chosen system but that can significantly enhance its overall security."